Blue Energy Buys U.K. Wind Farms From HgCapital for $395 Million

RidgeWind has 45 megawatts of projects in late-stage
construction, 132 megawatts with planning permission and a
“significant” development pipeline, private-equity firm
HgCapital said today in an e-mailed statement.

The U.K. has promoted wind farms as it pursues a target to
get 30 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020, up
from almost 12 percent now. Draft legislation detailed in an
energy bill last November would provide new financial mechanisms
and incentives for low-carbon power as the country seeks
investment to replace aging generators and upgrade grids.

“Blue Energy has ambitious growth plans and we aim to
progress further transactions of a similar nature in the U.K.
wind sector this year,” Chris Dean, chief executive officer of
the Alderley Edge, England-based company, said in the statement.
RidgeWind has an “experienced development team who have
pioneered innovative community benefit schemes, which are so
important in winning local support for wind farms.”

Onshore wind has been the subject of debate after about 100
Conservative Party lawmakers wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron last year calling for subsidy cuts for land-based
turbines, saying they’re an intermittent power source that
blight the landscape.

Blue Energy, which financed the RidgeWind acquisition with
funds from shareholders and Banco Santander SA, has 9.7
megawatts of U.K. wind farms under development, according to the
statement. It also plans to build a 155-megawatt solar
photovoltaic plant in Ghana.

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